ERROR: Drifting Mind
by LightWriter2013
Summary: Book 2: Wolf wakes from a coma and is suddenly pulled into a power play between Mobz aka Herobrine and Notch himself. Both sides build armies, send spies, and start a war over control of Minecraftia itself and Wolf is forced to take a side: The one who's luck is unusually strong and power-hungry, or the one that uses honor for good; or is there a difference?
1. Back to Normal

I stared up at the ceiling of my room, unconsciously following the long crack in the sky-blue paint with my brown eyes. I was lying still on my bed, my arms tucked behind my head and my feet with boots still on crossed carelessly on the blankets. The radio next to my pillow was humming songs but each one sounded the same in my thoughtless daze. The large window that took up most of my front wall opened up to a window-well that was dug into the ground, allowing the lazy, orange afternoon light to flow through and light my room. Dappled spots of shade moved around the surface of my green and blue walls as the trees outside swayed in a late summer breeze.

I sighed, finishing tracing the crack, and turned onto my right side to stare at the wall. It was the first day at home after I was released from the Hospital, and I didn't feel like doing anything. The doctors were baffled as to my strange, unexplained coma I had fallen into, and my even more curious recovery, and refused to let me out until more tests had been made despite how hard I argued. Of course they found nothing of use and only succeeded in wasting their time. I could have told them what had really happened, but what were the chances of them believing me? And, if they did happen to take me seriously, I would undoubtedly become no more than a "lab experiment"and would be held even longer in the hospital.

After I had given up and let the doctors do their tests, I let my thoughts wander and tucked myself into my mind, not caring about my surroundings. The days spent in Minecraft were etched permanently in my memory and I let the experiences run through in my mind. The names of the players who saved my life ran over my tongue every few minutes, and especially the name of the one who was the biggest mystery to me. KillerXXMobz, or who I came to assume, Herobrine… If what he said was true, then he had been watching me ever since I first arrived in Minecraft. As a chicken he followed me everywhere. A creeper would have been a more accurate disguise, but of course it's one of the most hated mobs and thus not the smartest of appearances.

I grinned at the thought of Mobz, looking like a creeper, running through the survival homes of Sky's server to avoid the horde of players behind him, but I sobered up a second later after remembering how I had been chased that same way myself. Unhappy with the newest thought, I turned my attention elsewhere.

_"How could he be a chicken in the first place? How'd he manage to catch me when I fell from the castle?... Who is he?"_

These questions went around in my head for possibly an hour and I couldn't think of any explanation for any of them besides the simple answer of him being what I was. He was inside the game, or was most of the time I spent in Minecraft… proof being his ability to pull the sword from my chest and speak so only I could hear him.

_"He's like me… a- oh what did he call me… a 'drifter'; someone who can go into the game..."_

His last words rang ominously in my mind at the thought of my last moment in Minecraft. _"_All in due time my young drifter… I will see you soon."__

"What did he mean by that?" I asked aloud to the wall, "He'll see me soon... that can't be possible. Not unless he happens to be inside the game when I next go onto Sky's server... but I highly doubt he'd stick around after showing everyone his real skin. Sky wouldn't take kindly to a real, dangerous glitch in his server such as Herobrine."

I turned around to lay on my back and once again trace the crack in the ceiling. Vaguely I registered my favorite song begin to play on the radio but I dismissed it and focused on clearing my head so I could think better. There were so many questions buzzing around my head and very few I had answers for. Everything was suddenly seeming more complicated then I had thought. I had obviously taken the simpleness of life for granted, for now I felt overwhelmed with the newness of not being able to understand what was happening to me. Before now, everything was easy, laid out, explained... like the first time I ever played Minecraft, I knew what I was doing and easily adjusted to the ways of Minecraftia.

I sighed and lazily swung myself around to face the rest of my room. Eying the small, black radio, I reached over and turned it off. Eventually the rest of my body followed to get up and off my bed. It felt strange to stand. For the last few days I've done nothing but sit or lay down, and the few short periods of walking around was incoherent as my mind was tucked into myself as well as exhausted. With my mind alive I now registered the weakness in my legs and the effort it took to keep my balance. The coma I had been in really took a toll on my body.

Jerkily at first, I made my way out of my room and towards the stairs that went up to the first floor. As I walked farther, my legs strengthened and I was able to walk up the stairs normally. The large, pastel-green painted entry opened up around me and I welcomed it's friendliness. A few steps to my left took me around the railing and into the kitchen where my family was sitting together eating lunch. At my entry they all paused and looked up at me, worry in my parents eyes and excitement in my brother's. I forced a smile to put them at ease. There was no need to worry them with my troubles.

"Well look who's returned from the void," my brother chimed cheerfully before taking a large bite from his sandwich, "Finally decide to come back up to the Overworld?"

Despite my troubled thoughts, a real smile spread over my face. My brother just seemed to have this way of cheering me up whenever I needed to feel better.

"Yeah. I've returned..." I murmured, rubbing my eyes to clear my vision and pull myself out from my head.

"How are you feeling?" My dad asked, a worried look still in his hazel eyes.

"I'm ok." I answered plainly.

"Are you hungry, honey? I could make you a sandwich." My mom offered.

"Uh... no. No I'm okay," I answered, waving her to stop from reaching for the bread, "I'm not hungry."

"There's a first." my brother mumbled around another bite of his sandwich.

"Are you sure you're ok?" My dad wondered, meeting my eyes, "You've been in your room ever since we came back from the hospital."

"I'm fine, Dad, really. I've just had a lot on my mind..." I broke away from his gaze to look out the large, kitchen window to the yard outside.

"Well," my brother spoke up after a minute had passed without conversation, "If it's ok, I'm done with my chores, and I think Tena needs some downtime; she needs something to get her mind free of what's bugging her," he shoved the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and pushed his chair out of the way so he could drop his plate in the sink and stand next to me. Despite being a few years younger than me, he had grown to stand two inches taller, and often enjoyed reminding me of the fact whenever possible. "Could we play Minecraft together? Please? She needs the adrenaline rush of being chased by a mob."

I watched my dad glance at my mom. For a second they looked at each other, silently, as if telepathically, making a decision. My brother and I proceeded to stare at our parents, eagerly waiting for their answer. Finally my mom nodded.

"Yes!" my brother cheered before grabbing my hand to drag me to the computer room, "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this! Prepare yourself, sister!" He pulled me into the dark green painted computer room and sat me down on the wooden chair I always used. "Get on and do whatever you want for a few minutes. I have to prepare something." as soon as he finished, my brother walked to the other side of the room to his own computer, immediately typing something and clicking with his mouse.

_"I guess I have the time to change my skin..."_ I thought after a minute of staring blankly at my screen. _"Having lived inside the skin I have now... I don't like it as much as I thought. I hope there's one already made that I like... I don't have any time to make a new one..."_

I entered the correct URL and started to browse through the most recent skin creations. There were plenty of youtuber variations, animal costumes, and randomly colored skins, but nothing really caught my eye. In hopes of finding a good skin, I typed up "girl" in the search bar.

Still nothing seemed to be what I was looking for. I skimmed through five pages of skins before giving up on that particular search and typing in something else with similar results.

"Hey, I'm ready now," my brother called from his side of the room, "Go on and enter the bottom server in multiplayer."

"One sec... I'm trying to find a skin." I replied over my shoulder without turning my eyes form the screen.

"Hurry up."

I nodded and went back up to the search bar. _"There's nothing good here... I might have to just make my own another time..."_ I stared annoyed at the screen. _"Why can't people just make skins that actually look_ **_good_**?"

With curiosity, and needing a last ditch effort, I entered "Huntingwolf" into the search bar. The site took a moment to load, and I immediately expected there to be an empty page. My heart skipped a beat when a single skin appeared labeled "For You".

Hurriedly I clicked on the skin and had it pop up larger for me to see it better. It was a girl with long, slightly curled, purple-black hair, vibrant green eyes, and tanned skin. The clothes were ones that resembled a hunter; dark green leggings and short tank top that only went halfway down the front of the skin, revealing the stomach and lower back, long black boots, long, green arm-guards, and a lighter green, short, hooded poncho that covered the shoulders and fell to only a few pixels above where the shirt fell.

Overall, the skin was beautiful. Careful shading gave the skin some depth and the highlights in the hair were just perfect. The skin looked just like a drawing I had made and scanned to complete on Photoshop...

I blinked suspiciously with the thought. Now that I looked at the skin, and thought about the drawing, the two were practically exactly the same. Either a huge coincidence, or something I did not what to think about.

My eyes scanned the skin over again then fell lower on the page where the skin description was placed.

**_Made this skin for a friend of mine of whom I met in Sky's server- I hope you like it, and I can't wait to see you in it. Nice drawing, by the way. It was very_ helpful.**

I sat back, shocked and a little scared, all worries about my Minecraft experience resurfacing to trouble my mind. If Mobz could do what I could in the game, then he had searched through my files in the split second he had touched me and I exited the game. He indeed planned on seeing me again. How? When? Where? I had no idea, and really dreaded the answers.

"Are you done yet? Come on, I'm getting old over here." My brother complained, thumping his head against his keyboard.

"Yeah, yeah, one more second," I pushed my thoughts aside and quickly downloaded the skin, uploading it to Minecraft before my logic could argue. "Ok, The last server?"

"Yup."

I scrolled down in the multiplayer list until the last server appeared. I double clicked and waited for the world to load, apprehensively staring at the brown and green pixelated screen half expecting it to jump out and claim my mind again. To my relief the world opened up on the screen and acted like any normal game. No loading errors. No downloading characters. Just normal.

I sighed and finally let my focus spread to the world around the screen. My mouth fell open and I looked around, speechless, at the large building I was in. It was a huge, cavernous room with a domed glass ceiling, dark oak walls, quartz floor, and glowstone lights. Crafting tables, chests, furnaces, jukeboxes, bookcases, and an enchantment table decorated the area. To my left and right were doorways, one leading outside to a dark oak biome, and the other to a taiga biome. Doors stood on my front and back as well, leading to more rooms.

"J-Jack, what is this?" I asked in amazement, making my avatar turn in circles to see the entire room, "I-is this the-"

"It's our new private server!" My brother answered, laughing at my reaction, his avatar running towards me from an adjacent room, "You like it? I got our cousin Tommy to come over while you were at the hospital and set it up for us. And you remember that one guy I accidentally told you about two weeks ago? We've been building this place together while you've been gone, sneaking in the time whenever possible. It's my present to you for your birthday!" His red and dark grey knight avatar punched excitedly into the air, the name tag, ScipioXFrost, spinning about seemingly as excited as it's owner. "Oh, nice skin by the way. It really suits you."

I murmured a thanks until my brother's words sank in and I stopped and blinked with surprise and embarrassment. I had completely forgotten about my own birthday. It was still two days away, but soon enough to be thinking nonstop about it. "Th-thanks!" I replied to my brother after he had settled down and was waiting for me to say something, shifting to stand a pixel from my face.

"You forgot didn't you," he snickered, bobbing his avatar's head to look like he was laughing, "How do you manage to forget your own birthday?!" He turned and ran to the next room, head looking upwards like he was rage quitting on me.

"I was sucked into Minecraft and put in a coma for the past few days, Scipio!" I shouted, running after my brother and punching at his back, "Don't judge!" I hit his back after his sprint failed and felt satisfied as he turned red with the damage.

"Wait wait wait… what? You were sucked into Mine-"

"SH!" I interrupted my brother by punching at his avatar's face, "Mom and Dad would think I got brain damage if I claimed I had been in Minecraftia the whole time I was out. I'll explain this way…" I quickly started to type and soon had an idea of how to explain the experience through the server chat, **"When we were logging into the server, my character wouldn't load and I was pulled in to compensate. Apparently I'm a 'Drifter'- someone who can go into Minecraft."****  
**

I paused after entering the message, and listened as my brother quickly started to type.

**"How d'you know?"**

**"I was told so by… um… another drifter…"**

My brother's typing paused briefly with surprise before returning with even more haste. **"There's more? How'd you figure out he was one? How'd he know you were one? What was it like?"**

I sighed at the onslaught of questions, but quickly started to answer each. **"Yes, there's more. I didn't figure out until he saved my life. I guess he just knew I was one. And it was…" **I entered the message there, in need of more space, as well as needing to think chow to describe it.

**"Yes?…"**

**"It was.. exhilarating."** The word came out my fingers before I realized what I had typed, but they weren't done there. **"There was wind, and smells, and sounds, and textures… Minecrafters were talking and moving like normal people... fighting was complicated... and pain was always a threat."**...**"Think the youtube videos we watch together."**

**"Really?" **

I glanced over my shoulder to see my brother staring at me with wide, curious eyes and I nodded seriously. He turned back to his screen and started to type, but a message appeared before he was done, cutting him off.

**"Long time no see, Wolf. That your brother with you?"**


	2. An Unexpected Visit

**_Sorry for not updating for so long. I've fallen into a writer's block lull in my writing and could't think of what to type. This as been on the back-burner for so long, but i'm finally posting it! Hopefully I'll get more done soon. _**

* * *

"T-Tena? What was- who's that?" My brother asked but I only vaguely heard him. I was staring at the screen, re-reading the message with a growing feeling of dread. The tag for who had messaged was hidden but I knew automatically who it was.

I could feel my brother staring at me but I ignored him and started to type. **"What're you doing here?"**

**"Geeze. Friendly much?"** Mobz replied automatically, **"I thought you would be excited to hear from me again."**

I huffed and started to explore through the server hub, turning in full 360 degree circles and checking out of every window for any sign of Mobz. My brother followed close behind, suddenly pulling out a diamond sword and holding it ready to fight. "Is that the drifter you talked about?" He asked me while I walked about.

"Yes." My answer was blunt and told him to be quiet. Guilt tinged my mind once he fell silent, but I was too worried about Mobz to care.

**"What're you looking for? Something important?****"**

**"Go away. I don't want to have anything to do with you."** I messaged, anger boiling inside me. Before Mobz replied I heard a small 'ouch' from across the room which made me grin slightly.

**"Come on… I know you don't really mean ****that."**

I circled around again, sprinting to re-enter the main room and search the ceiling. **"I do mean it. Scram,"** I demanded with fingers flying across the keyboard, **"Leave me alone."**

**"How can you say that after all I've done for you? I risked my life to save you in the games, and this is how you repay me?" **The doors suddenly swung open and both my brother and I spun around to see Mobz' grey military avatar stroll in, one hand on his hip and the other sending a blocky salute. **"You're looking good, Wolf. I like the new outfit. And, Scipio is it? I like the armor. Very Medieval. The sword finishes the look."**

**"Go away!"** I typed angrily, **"Thanks for helping me but I don't need help anymore."**

Mobz shook his head in what I guessed was laughter. **"Oh, really? You don't need help in any way? What if you get sucked in again? Would you know how to leave?"**

**"You taught me how to leave when you pulled the sword from my chest." **I typed back bluntly, scowling at the screen.

**"Don't you want to know how I turned from normal avatar into Herobrine? How I disguised my eyes so they wouldn't glow? How I could store myself away in the chicken and save your life? How I was able to find the picture you drew, and logged into this server- marvelous might I add- and still manage to avoid detection?"** Mobz asked, a hand beckoning towards my avatar questioningly, **"Don't you feel curious as to how I did that? Don't you hunger for the knowledge I have?"**

I felt my interest shift inside me. I did want to know; I wanted the answers, but if it meant staying with Herobrine-... that was the deciding factor. I would not learn from Minecraft's most hated glitch.

**"NO."**

"Way to tell him, Te- Wolf," my brother spoke with a small grin as he called me by my Minecraft name; something we did whenever we played together, "Way to tell him."

I nodded in reply and returned to the screen. **"Go away. Hack into some other server."**

Mobz fell silent, and he cocked his head, black eyes searching my avatar for a moment before moving away to look dejectedly to the floor. **"Fine… I'll leave. Sorry if I insulted you in any way,"** He turned, casting a quickly look over his shoulder as he exited the hub, **"Didn't mean to. Enjoy the server, and see you around."** Before I should type a reply, Mobz vanished with a flash of lightning, leaving only a single redstone torch where he had stood.

"Well that was weird…" Scipio muttered, "I can't believe you'd throw away the chance to learn more about your ability. I know I'd take the chance immediately."

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose, "I would never learn anything from Him. It would be a curse. Now c'mon… show me what you have on here!" I heard Scipio laugh from his side of the room before his avatar started for the door, "Come on then, up first is the hide and seek arena…"

* * *

**_So there it is. Again, i'm sorry for not updating, and for how short this one was compared to my other chapters, but at least it's here, right? _**

**_I also want to mention that this story won't end up being as long as you all would probably like. If it's going to ever get done that's how it'll be. We'll see though, you can never really know where a story will go. _**

**_So, yeah. Tell me what you think, I'm still open for a few more OCs; include descriptions if you can, but i can't promise at this point if they'll really show up as a full character or just as a filler, but hey, if they're in, they're in, right? :)_**

**_Anyway, guys, thanks for reading and keeping me up on my toes. Keep being awesome! Love you all!_**

**_-Light_**


	3. Inside Again

"HoOOwl you all doin'?! WolfRider107 here with another episode of SURVIVAL-"

"HE-ARGH, BLUH-BLURB- HEY GYUS IT'S ME, SCI, AND TODAY-"

"SCIPIO!" I slammed my head against the keyboard, suppressing my raged laughter, "My intro! MINE!" My brother laughed with mischievousness before making his avatar run in tight circles around where I stood, trying his hardest to distract me from finishing my video intro. "As I was saying… Survival Games! Woo-hoo, yeah… Darn it Sci! You ruined it! There goes my concentration; there it goes, flying off into the distance!" I punched at Scipio, unfortunately unable to cause damage in the server hub, but getting my overall point into view.

It had been several months since my adventure in Minecraftia and the entire experience had all practically been forgotten, shoved to the farthest corner of my mind where it wouldn't bother me. Now, in another server and catching up on my youtube recordings, my brother and I were pumped to destroy all enemies and win the games.

"Another successful video troll!" the grey and red armored Minecrafter jumped around with triumph for ruining my opening before suddenly charging for a sign, "This one, this one! We're going to this one!" He punched the wooden sign, immediately warping the two of us as a party to the starting points.

"Oh, no… I hate this map…" I whined, turning in circles to take in the cavernous spawn.

"Come on, we've been practicing on this one! Remember that spot we found the last time we played?" I searched though my mind, quickly remembering the off-to-the-side cave with an illuminated island jutting up from the floor and towering over anyone who came upon it. It was defendable, had good chests, and made it easy to see anyone from hundreds of blocks away. "Yeah, ok. We can do this!" I jumped in place, pumping the space bar as fast and hard as I could, "We're gonna win the survival games!"

"That's the spirit, Wolf!" My brother proclaimed, and I managed to find him off on the other side of the spawn punching my direction, "Countdown starting; let's do dis!"

**Game starting in 10...**

**9...**

**8...**

**7...**

**6...**

**5...**

**4...**

**3...**

**2...**

**1...**

**Let the Games Begin!**

I launched forward, sprinting to the chests where I quickly chose one and clicked on the objects as fast as I could: A bow, a stone sword, five steaks, and an iron helmet. "I've got stuff! Let's move!" I found my brother and took the lead, jump-sprinting to escape the spawn faster, "We have to get to the island first or else we're screwed!"

"We already have been; I didn't get anything!" Scipio complained, "An iron sword was snatched before my very eyes!"

I withheld a laugh at my brother's poor luck and put my amusement towards fueling my thumbs to jump as fast as possible up the steep, rocky island side. I always enjoyed survival games, mostly because I was always so serious about each round and felt adrenaline course through my arms and make my heart beat faster, making me feel like I was there. The thrill of being stuck in an arena to fight to the death while racing against time to find the best gear and supplies; the fear when someone with better stuff is kicking your butt and all you can do is run and hope they give up...

I honestly had forgotten how genuinely dangerous the games could really be.

For that reason, I suppose, I was open for accidents. Only when I realized my head was swimming, and my vision blurring with brown, black, and purple did I realize what I had done.

"Sci-Scip-i-"

"Te-Wolf?!"

Our voices blended as we spoke at once before everything went silent; everything turned black... the feeling of my back against my chair; my fingers resting on the keyboard; it all vanished…

Grass rested against my skin. Hard stone under my left arm sent chills up the limb to my neck and shoulders. The smell of flowers and earth filled my nose and made fresh air fill my lungs as I took a deep, stressed breath. A breeze rustled my hair and brushed my eyelashes, teasing my eyes to open, which they did, and were greeted by a soft early-morning light, blue sky, and a palm tree.

I lay there, dazed from the travel I just made from one body to another. My head was scrambled; I couldn't remember where I was, or what I was doing. A shadow, red and grey with glowing red-orange eyes, stood over me, saying something. It sounded scared… or angry… What was it? What was it saying? Why was it here with me? Why was I there anyway?

I shifted my shoulders and became aware of a hard object that was lying under me. Just then I realized I had something in my hand; something heavy, but balanced when I lifted my hand-

All at once I remembered, and I shot up with wide eyes and rapid breaths. "No… No, no, no!… Oh, please, no!" I looked myself up and down, then at the ground, then the sky, until I finally looked at Scipio who looked as if he was in more of a panic than I was. "Y-you're- you're-!"

I quickly stood up and grabbed him before he could stumble off the edge of the island. "C-carefull, Sci… Y-you could have gotten h-hurt," I murmured through carefully forced, deep breaths, "W-watch the edge, will you?" I pulled him away from the short cliff, stepping away once he was on his feet and no longer needed someone to keep his balance.

"Tena, you're-"

"Look, I want you to calm down and take deep breaths, ok? Just calm down…" I waited as I listened to him take soothing breaths and watched as his avatar's chest rose and fell as if it was doing the breathing. "Now," I started once he had finished, "I'm back in the game; there's nothing to do about it. I want you to close the door to the computer room so Mom and Dad don't see me, and try to play normally."

"Wh-why can I still hear you?"

I hadn't realized it, but, now that he mentioned it, I could hear him too, just as plain as if I was in the same room. "I- It could be because we're in a Skype call…" It was the only explanation.

"Okay… so what do we do now?"

I rubbed my head as I thought about an answer. "Well…" I knew how to leave -thanks to Mobz- so I could easily just pop into my normal body and continue playing, or, if I logged out, I could just log back in and start another round over… "I'm going to get back to normal then we'll continue. Just watch out so we're not ambushed." I tossed Scipio my sword and waited until he had picked it up and held it ready to attack if anyone was to approach. Satisfied with his protection, I closed my eyes and started to imagine the Minecraft title screen.

_"Close your eyes and imagine the exit screen. Log out."_

I frowned slightly at the echo of Mobz' voice and pushed it away to focus on logging out.

The pixelated brown screen formed in my mind with the 'log out' button pasted in the very center, but, when I imagined clicking the button, nothing happened. I tried again and again, clicking the button desperately to escape Minecraftia, but to no avail.

_"Wh-what's going on? Why can't I leave?!"_

"Uh, Wolf? You gonna leave anytime soon?"

I glanced up at my brother, my green eyes opening wide with fear. "I-I can't leave…"

"What?" It was more a disbelieving shout, but I took it like a question, partially needing to repeat myself just to wrap my mind around the situation. "I can't leave! Why can't I leave?!" I felt myself start to hyperventilate, "It doesn't work! I can't leave! Sci, why can't I leave?! It worked last time!"

"W-Wolf, you just need to calm down-"

"B-but I'm stuck! I'm stuck in Minecraftia with no way out again! I-"

"Get a hold of yourself!" Scipio's harsh voice caught my attention, but the punch in the face was what really stopped my rant, "You just have to breathe, ok?! You can't leave- so what? Right now we're in the middle of a round so we can't afford distractions. Right now, we need to focus."

I rubbed my cheekbone where my brother's fist had hit, but any fear was gone, replaced with a dull understanding and a little anger. "Fine. You're right... I'm sorry..." I replied, pride hurting for admitting my younger sibling was right, "What we need to do is focus on the here and now. Sci, you said you didn't get anything from spawn?"

"Yeah. Everyone seemed to go for the same one..."

"Then look around for chests. We'll split the loot after." Scipio nodded in agreement and started forward, passing me to look in that direction. I went the opposite direction, scanning the area for the brown wood and smaller block size that distinguished chests from other blocks. Immediately I found one and opened it up, pulling out the chain boots, cooked fish, and two apples and putting them in my inventory. I moved on, keeping my eyes open for more chests until I found another and grabbed its contents. This continued until I practically ran into Scipio on the other side of the island.

"So, what'd you get?" he wondered, putting on the armor he found while I looked through my inventory, listing the items: "A bow, five steaks, an iron helmet, chain boots, two apples, three cooked fish, five raw fish, gold sword, leather pants, and a gold chest plate..."

"I found some armor, another stone sword, a total of ten pork-chops, a fishing pole, a boat, and and iron ingot... uh, here, take these..." I stumbled back in time to avoid the gold pants that dropped where my feet had been. "Watch where you're throwing that!" I growled while bending over and picking up the armor, "That would have hurt my toes…" I pulled the pants on, slipping the iron helmet over my head and the chain mail boots immediately afterwards while glancing to see what my brother had on. Iron chest plate, leather helmet, and gold pants.

"Are there any chests we missed?"

I cast my eyes around the island-hill but found no other chest that looked unfamiliar, "Nope, we got them all," While I spoke I double-checked the area for chests I could have missed while simultaneously pulling the sword from my inventory and holding it readily in my hand. As a second-thought I pulled out the bow and over my shoulder to lay across my back, "I only wish we had found some arrows. I want to try shooting a bow while I'm stuck here."

Jack nodded, his head turning around to look at the surrounding caves, "Well, no one's bothered us… should we stay 'till d-match, or go out for more chests and maybe take out some tributes?"

"Definitely go out for more chests. If we come across someone we'll kill 'em and hopefully we'll get better stuff for d-match. But," I stepped forward, catching Scipio's full attention, "Things may happen that could alert suspicion from the other players. If we go out and find someone, we need to hit hard and fast before they know what's happening and, above all, you need to make the final hit. If I kill someone I'll appear in chat as either unknown or, I suppose, unreadable code… that'll be the biggest problem."

"Okey-dokey-arti-chokie. We be ninja, swoop in undetected, I make the kill, and we move on unnoticed." My brother's light attitude didn't touch my feeling of foreboding. In my gut I could feel something would go horribly wrong at some point...

Before the two of us moved I heard a muffled thud and a crunch above our heads, along with a quiet, pained curse. I flicked my eyes up to find a tribute stumbling on the top of a palm tree, trying hard not to fall off while pulling out items form a chest. "Sci! Above us!" Before my brother even reacted I was at the trunk of the tree, jumping up as high as I could go and wrapping my arms around the rough bark. I grunted as the wood scratched my skin but I pushed the pain aside and focused on the tribute ahead of me. It looked like an assassin, like from assassins creed, but what I was most worried about was if he was as good as the skin suggested. If he was, then both Scipio and I were going to be screwed, because he just pulled out a bow, several arrows, and an iron sword.

"Hey! You..." I looked up above his head to get his name, shouting at him as I shimmied up the tree trunk, "PigLeader! Think fast!" as I finished I reached the top and immediately jumped up and kicked at the tribute. Taken by surprise PigLeader didn't react in time and was hit square in the back, pushed from the tree to the waiting arms of my brother.

"Wolf!? How did you-" my brother cut himself off to swing the stone sword at the tribute who countered with a practiced block of the iron blade before quickly switching and punching Scipio, following up with an attack of his own. "It doesn't matter! I'm comin' down to help!" I felt a twinge of worry at how the fight was going already. PigLeader was proving to be good... a little too good for our own skills...

"AH! Wolf! Wolf, get down here! I'm at three hearts!"

This was where I started to panic. If Scipio was beaten this early, I would have nothing to stop this server from knowing what I was.

Without much thought I jumped from the large palm tree leaves. I landed heavily right on top of PigLeader, putting all damage onto him while instantly getting a sneak-peek to his point of view. It was similar to that of getting suffocated: the screen was dark, and damage was being dealt, though, not in small quantities like usual, but in one, large slam. PigLover was down to, literally, half a heart.

Before I could start to swim in passwords and other info I turned off of the assassin, leaping onto my feet and pointing at him in a gesture for Scipio to finish him off. (It was now that I saw the face of the tribute... I was honestly very surprised to meet a pig face.)

"AAAAHHH!" Scipio shouted a war cry while rushing up to kill the tribute, but PigLeader reacted faster than I had ever seen.

After what seemed to be a single flash of movement, Scipio was stumbling away, yelling at me, "I have half a heart! Wolf, I can't fight him! I'll die! You have to kill him- you have to do it!" PigLeader's sword flashed, "WOLF!"

"SCIPIO!" I suddenly felt a surge of protectiveness and I launched myself at PigLover, "DON'T YOU DARE KILL MY BROTHER!" I threw a couple punches at the tribute, which he dodged easily. Full of anger, I thrust my hand forward at his chest. But... it didn't hit... it went straight through him. When I withdrew my hand, grasped in my fingers was an arrow.

Pushing aside my shock, I shoved the arrow into PigLeader's neck, finishing the fight.

**_PigLeader_ was killed by _Unknown_ using an _arrow_.**

"Here we go..." I murmured while casting my eyes around, making sure Scipio was still ok, and that no one had seen what I had done, "That's done. Let's win quickly, Sci," I bent over and picked up the stuff PigLeader had, "It won't be long before we're hunted down."

"Right..." he agreed, shoving a pork chop in his mouth, "How many are left?"

"Um..." I wasn't sure how I could check. However, the moment I thought of it, a list of names popped into my head, labeled either dead or alive. "Ummm... ten?"

"How on earth did we miss all the cannons?"

I looked at Scipio, "I have no clue." As a side thought I glanced at the chat, and found something I hated to hear.

"It's the glitch from Sky's server! Who wants to team and get rid of it?!"

"I heard of that! I'll team! Where are you?"

"I will team too!"

"Count me in! Where r we meeting?"

My heart skipped a beat. It was time for the game to actually start.

"C'mon, Sci, we gotta go, " I grabbed his arm and started dragging him along behind me, ignoring the images of his screen that wanted to surface, "We're going to avoid being hunted and become the hunters..." I fell silent, finishing my thought in my head, _"And not be killed... literally..."_


	4. Game Start

"HoOOwl you all doin'?! WolfRider107 here with another episode of SURVIVAL-"

"HE-ARGH, BLUH-BLURB- HEY GYUS IT'S ME, SCI, AND TODAY-"

"SCIPIO!" I slammed my head against the keyboard, suppressing my raged laughter, "My intro! MINE!" My brother laughed with mischievousness before making his avatar run in tight circles around where I stood, trying his hardest to distract me from finishing my video intro. "As I was saying… Survival Games! Woo-hoo, yeah… Darn it Sci! You ruined it! There goes my concentration; there it goes, flying off into the distance!" I punched at Scipio, unfortunately unable to cause damage in the server hub, but getting my overall point into view.

It had been several months since my adventure in Minecraftia and the entire experience had all practically been forgotten, shoved to the farthest corner of my mind where it wouldn't bother me. Now, in another server and catching up on my youtube recordings, my brother and I were pumped to destroy all enemies and win the games.

"Another successful video troll!" the grey and red armored Minecrafter jumped around with triumph for ruining my opening before suddenly charging for a sign, "This one, this one! We're going to this one!" He punched the wooden sign, immediately warping the two of us as a party to the starting points.

"Oh, no… I hate this map…" I whined, turning in circles to take in the cavernous spawn.

"Come on, we've been practicing on this one! Remember that spot we found the last time we played?" I searched though my mind, quickly remembering the off-to-the-side cave with an illuminated island jutting up from the floor and towering over anyone who came upon it. It was defendable, had good chests, and made it easy to see anyone from hundreds of blocks away. "Yeah, ok. We can do this!" I jumped in place, pumping the space bar as fast and hard as I could, "We're gonna win the survival games!"

"That's the spirit, Wolf!" My brother proclaimed, and I managed to find him off on the other side of the spawn punching my direction, "Countdown starting; let's do dis!"

**Game starting in 10...**

**9...**

**8...**

**7...**

**6...**

**5...**

**4...**

**3...**

**2...**

**1...**

**Let the Games Begin!**

I launched forward, sprinting to the chests where I quickly chose one and clicked on the objects as fast as I could: A bow, a stone sword, five steaks, and an iron helmet. "I've got stuff! Let's move!" I found my brother and took the lead, jump-sprinting to escape the spawn faster, "We have to get to the island first or else we're screwed!"

"We already have been; I didn't get anything!" Scipio complained, "An iron sword was snatched before my very eyes!"

I withheld a laugh at my brother's poor luck and put my amusement towards fueling my thumbs to jump as fast as possible up the steep, rocky island side. I always enjoyed survival games, mostly because I was always so serious about each round and felt adrenaline course through my arms and make my heart beat faster, making me feel like I was there. The thrill of being stuck in an arena to fight to the death while racing against time to find the best gear and supplies; the fear when someone with better stuff is kicking your butt and all you can do is run and hope they give up...

I honestly had forgotten how genuinely dangerous the games could really be.

For that reason, I suppose, I was open for accidents. Only when I realized my head was swimming, and my vision blurring with brown, black, and purple did I realize what I had done.

"Sci-Scip-i-"

"Te-Wolf?!"

Our voices blended as we spoke at once before everything went silent; everything turned black... the feeling of my back against my chair; my fingers resting on the keyboard; it all vanished…

Grass rested against my skin. Hard stone under my left arm sent chills up the limb to my neck and shoulders. The smell of flowers and earth filled my nose and made fresh air fill my lungs as I took a deep, stressed breath. A breeze rustled my hair and brushed my eyelashes, teasing my eyes to open, which they did, and were greeted by a soft early-morning light, blue sky, and a palm tree.

I lay there, dazed from the travel I just made from one body to another. My head was scrambled; I couldn't remember where I was, or what I was doing. A shadow, red and grey with glowing red-orange eyes, stood over me, saying something. It sounded scared… or angry… What was it? What was it saying? Why was it here with me? Why was I there anyway?

I shifted my shoulders and became aware of a hard object that was lying under me. Just then I realized I had something in my hand; something heavy, but balanced when I lifted my hand-

All at once I remembered, and I shot up with wide eyes and rapid breaths. "No… No, no, no!… Oh, please, no!" I looked myself up and down, then at the ground, then the sky, until I finally looked at Scipio who looked as if he was in more of a panic than I was. "Y-you're- you're-!"

I quickly stood up and grabbed him before he could stumble off the edge of the island. "C-carefull, Sci… Y-you could have gotten h-hurt," I murmured through carefully forced, deep breaths, "W-watch the edge, will you?" I pulled him away from the short cliff, stepping away once he was on his feet and no longer needed someone to keep his balance.

"Tena, you're-"

"Look, I want you to calm down and take deep breaths, ok? Just calm down…" I waited as I listened to him take soothing breaths and watched as his avatar's chest rose and fell as if it was doing the breathing. "Now," I started once he had finished, "I'm back in the game; there's nothing to do about it. I want you to close the door to the computer room so Mom and Dad don't see me, and try to play normally."

"Wh-why can I still hear you?"

I hadn't realized it, but, now that he mentioned it, I could hear him too, just as plain as if I was in the same room. "I- It could be because we're in a Skype call…" It was the only explanation.

"Okay… so what do we do now?"

I rubbed my head as I thought about an answer. "Well…" I knew how to leave -thanks to Mobz- so I could easily just pop into my normal body and continue playing, or, if I logged out, I could just log back in and start another round over… "I'm going to get back to normal then we'll continue. Just watch out so we're not ambushed." I tossed Scipio my sword and waited until he had picked it up and held it ready to attack if anyone was to approach. Satisfied with his protection, I closed my eyes and started to imagine the Minecraft title screen.

_"Close your eyes and imagine the exit screen. Log out."_

I frowned slightly at the echo of Mobz' voice and pushed it away to focus on logging out.

The pixelated brown screen formed in my mind with the 'log out' button pasted in the very center, but, when I imagined clicking the button, nothing happened. I tried again and again, clicking the button desperately to escape Minecraftia, but to no avail.

_"Wh-what's going on? Why can't I leave?!"_

"Uh, Wolf? You gonna leave anytime soon?"

I glanced up at my brother, my green eyes opening wide with fear. "I-I can't leave…"

"What?" It was more a disbelieving shout, but I took it like a question, partially needing to repeat myself just to wrap my mind around the situation. "I can't leave! Why can't I leave?!" I felt myself start to hyperventilate, "It doesn't work! I can't leave! Sci, why can't I leave?! It worked last time!"

"W-Wolf, you just need to calm down-"

"B-but I'm stuck! I'm stuck in Minecraftia with no way out again! I-"

"Get a hold of yourself!" Scipio's harsh voice caught my attention, but the punch in the face was what really stopped my rant, "You just have to breathe, ok?! You can't leave- so what? Right now we're in the middle of a round so we can't afford distractions. Right now, we need to focus."

I rubbed my cheekbone where my brother's fist had hit, but any fear was gone, replaced with a dull understanding and a little anger. "Fine. You're right... I'm sorry..." I replied, pride hurting for admitting my younger sibling was right, "What we need to do is focus on the here and now. Sci, you said you didn't get anything from spawn?"

"Yeah. Everyone seemed to go for the same one..."

"Then look around for chests. We'll split the loot after." Scipio nodded in agreement and started forward, passing me to look in that direction. I went the opposite direction, scanning the area for the brown wood and smaller block size that distinguished chests from other blocks. Immediately I found one and opened it up, pulling out the chain boots, cooked fish, and two apples and putting them in my inventory. I moved on, keeping my eyes open for more chests until I found another and grabbed its contents. This continued until I practically ran into Scipio on the other side of the island.

"So, what'd you get?" he wondered, putting on the armor he found while I looked through my inventory, listing the items: "A bow, five steaks, an iron helmet, chain boots, two apples, three cooked fish, five raw fish, gold sword, leather pants, and a gold chest plate..."

"I found some armor, another stone sword, a total of ten pork-chops, a fishing pole, a boat, and and iron ingot... uh, here, take these..." I stumbled back in time to avoid the gold pants that dropped where my feet had been. "Watch where you're throwing that!" I growled while bending over and picking up the armor, "That would have hurt my toes…" I pulled the pants on, slipping the iron helmet over my head and the chain mail boots immediately afterwards while glancing to see what my brother had on. Iron chest plate, leather helmet, and gold pants.

"Are there any chests we missed?"

I cast my eyes around the island-hill but found no other chest that looked unfamiliar, "Nope, we got them all," While I spoke I double-checked the area for chests I could have missed while simultaneously pulling the sword from my inventory and holding it readily in my hand. As a second-thought I pulled out the bow and over my shoulder to lay across my back, "I only wish we had found some arrows. I want to try shooting a bow while I'm stuck here."

Jack nodded, his head turning around to look at the surrounding caves, "Well, no one's bothered us… should we stay 'till d-match, or go out for more chests and maybe take out some tributes?"

"Definitely go out for more chests. If we come across someone we'll kill 'em and hopefully we'll get better stuff for d-match. But," I stepped forward, catching Scipio's full attention, "Things may happen that could alert suspicion from the other players. If we go out and find someone, we need to hit hard and fast before they know what's happening and, above all, you need to make the final hit. If I kill someone I'll appear in chat as either unknown or, I suppose, unreadable code… that'll be the biggest problem."

"Okey-dokey-arti-chokie. We be ninja, swoop in undetected, I make the kill, and we move on unnoticed." My brother's light attitude didn't touch my feeling of foreboding. In my gut I could feel something would go horribly wrong at some point...

Before the two of us moved I heard a muffled thud and a crunch above our heads, along with a quiet, pained curse. I flicked my eyes up to find a tribute stumbling on the top of a palm tree, trying hard not to fall off while pulling out items from a chest. "Sci! Above us!" Before my brother even reacted I was at the trunk of the tree, jumping up as high as I could go and wrapping my arms around the rough bark. I grunted as the wood scratched my skin but I pushed the pain aside and focused on the tribute ahead of me. It looked like an assassin, like from assassins creed, but what I was most worried about was if he was as good as the skin suggested. If he was, then both Scipio and I were going to be screwed, because he just pulled out a bow, several arrows, and an iron sword.

"Hey! You..." I looked up above his head to get his name, shouting at him as I shimmied up the tree trunk, "PigLeader! Think fast!" as I finished I reached the top and immediately jumped up and kicked at the tribute. Taken by surprise PigLeader didn't react in time and was hit square in the back, pushed from the tree to the waiting arms of my brother.

"Wolf!? How did you-" my brother cut himself off to swing the stone sword at the tribute who countered with a practiced block of the iron blade before quickly switching and punching Scipio, following up with an attack of his own. "It doesn't matter! I'm comin' down to help!" I felt a twinge of worry at how the fight was going already. PigLeader was proving to be good... a little too good for our own skills...

"AH! Wolf! Wolf, get down here! I'm at three hearts!"

This was where I started to panic. If Scipio was beaten this early, I would have nothing to stop this server from knowing what I was.

Without much thought I jumped from the large palm tree leaves. I landed heavily right on top of PigLeader, putting all damage onto him while instantly getting a sneak-peek to his point of view. It was similar to that of getting suffocated: the screen was dark, and damage was being dealt, though, not in small quantities like usual, but in one, large slam. PigLover was down to, literally, half a heart.

Before I could start to swim in passwords and other info I turned off of the assassin, leaping onto my feet and pointing at him in a gesture for Scipio to finish him off. (It was now that I saw the face of the tribute... I was honestly very surprised to meet a pig face.)

"AAAAHHH!" Scipio shouted a war cry while rushing up to kill the tribute, but PigLeader reacted faster than I had ever seen.

After what seemed to be a single flash of movement, Scipio was stumbling away, yelling at me, "I have half a heart! Wolf, I can't fight him! I'll die! You have to kill him- you have to do it!" PigLeader's sword flashed, "WOLF!"

"SCIPIO!" I suddenly felt a surge of protectiveness and I launched myself at PigLover, "DON'T YOU DARE KILL MY BROTHER!" I threw a couple punches at the tribute, which he dodged easily. Full of anger, I thrust my hand forward at his chest. But... it didn't hit... it went straight through him. When I withdrew my hand, grasped in my fingers was an arrow.

Pushing aside my shock, I shoved the arrow into PigLeader's neck, finishing the fight.

**_PigLeader_ was killed by _Unknown_ using an _arrow_.**

"Here we go..." I murmured while casting my eyes around, making sure Scipio was still ok, and that no one had seen what I had done, "That's done. Let's win quickly, Sci," I bent over and picked up the stuff PigLeader had, "It won't be long before we're hunted down."

"Right..." he agreed, shoving a pork chop in his mouth, "How many are left?"

"Um..." I wasn't sure how I could check. However, the moment I thought of it, a list of names popped into my head, labeled either dead or alive. "Ummm... ten?"

"How on earth did we miss all the cannons?"

I looked at Scipio, "I have no clue." As a side thought I glanced at the chat, and found something I hated to hear.

"It's the glitch from Sky's server! Who wants to team and get rid of it?!"

"I heard of that! I'll team! Where are you?"

"I will team too!"

"Count me in! Where r we meeting?"

My heart skipped a beat. It was time for the game to actually start.

"C'mon, Sci, we gotta go, " I grabbed his arm and started dragging him along behind me, ignoring the images of his screen that wanted to surface, "We're going to avoid being hunted and become the hunters..." I fell silent, finishing my thought in my head, _"And not be killed... literally..."_


End file.
